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Schleicher’s homecoming in distress

Schleicher’s homecoming in distress
By Stephen Stirling

It’s another day and another battle at Schleicher’s Court in College Point.

After more than eight months living in temporary housing, the remaining tenants at Schleicher’s Court were allowed to return to their apartments last week only to find a litany of issues remain unresolved.

Tenants Rita Douglas and Kalvis Macs said Tuesday they returned home to discover they have no gas, minimal heat and a faulty water system and have started to wonder if fighting to stay in the 19th century mansion is still worth it.

“I’m back, but being back and being freezing isn’t really being back,” Macs said. “Now the electric’s on, but everything else is worse. I might just give up on this whole thing because I can’t spend my whole life battling this. It takes so much out of your heart, soul and health to keep on doing this.”

The building’s owner, Eva Rohan, could not be reached for comment. Her sister, Georgina Sagar, acts as the building’s manager and also had little to say.

“You see what’s going on here,” she said. “It’s a circus.”

The tenants at Schleicher’s Court, at 11−41 123rd St., received word early Thursday afternoon that the city Department of Buildings had lifted a vacate order on the 19th century relic they call home, clearing the way for them to return.

The tenants have been embroiled in a bitter dispute with Rohan over repairs to an antiquated electrical system that the city called “dangerous,” leading the DOB to vacate the building last July. The work was completed after a Queens Civil Court ordered the work be finished by this month.

Tenants from two of the apartments moved out during the last few months, leaving four apartments inhabited.

Andy and Andrea Toas, who live in a basement apartment, still do not have electricity to a portion of their apartment, their daughter’s bedroom. During the course of the electrical work’s completion over the last several months, wiring to the room was eliminated and a temporary partition was erected in a portion of the apartment, partially blocking the entrance to the room.

As DOB inspectors made their way through the apartment last Thursday, Andrea Toas demanded to know why encroaching on their apartment was legal.

“She has so many court orders and she doesn’t fix nothing,” Toas shouted, referring to Rohan. “Where’s the justice?”

And though the vacate order was lifted, Schleicher’s Court still has 17 outstanding DOB violations. Though it appears the residents will be able to remain in their apartments, both the building management and tenants were scheduled to appear in court Wednesday to address the remaining issues.

“It’s crazy, it’s just crazy. I might just try and buy the house across the street and call it a day,” Douglas said. “It’s like one thing after the other here.”

Reach reporter Stephen Stirling by e−mail at sstirling@timesledger.com or by phone at 718−229−0300, Ext. 138.